Keratins are fundamental compounds of the skin, the hair, the eyelashes and the nails. These water-insoluble fibrous proteins contribute towards their form, elasticity and strength. For years now, scientists have been utilizing hydrolyzed proteins to condition and strengthen the hair, and there are both patents and research publications covering the subject. However, hydrolyzed peptides that give the most advantage to hair strength come from human origin or sheep wool. The usage of human and animal products is limited by regulations, ethical and health concerns. Additionally, hydrolyzed wool and human hair proteins can break down into as many as 100-300 fragments. The actual composition, purity and molecular size of these fragments are hard to control and thus the efficacy of hydrolyzed hair is lowered.
Therefore, there is a need to synthesize and make available the specific peptides that are beneficial to hair strength, manageability and overall conditioning and can be substantive to hair using nature-made amino acids.